Thanks! 

Ideally, however, I would be able to define the set of design meta-data in 
the actual YAML header of the document and not in the make script or the 
pandoc CLI parameters.

I think the most straightforward way would be a LUA filter like 
`include-meta` that does something similar to `pandoc-include`.

In the YAML header of the document:

```
title: The title
include-meta: acme-design-settings.yaml
```

LUA filter for `include-meta`:

```
# pseudo-code
if meta.include-meta is not nil:
     for each filename in meta.include-meta:
        additional_meta = parse(filename)
         for each entry in additional_meta:
             if meta[entry.key] is nil:
                meta[entry.key] = entry.value
                  # recursion not shown in here, needed for nested YAML
             else:
                if len(meta[entry.key]) == 1:
                    meta[entry.key] = list(meta[entry.key])
                    if len(entry.key) == 1:
                       entry.key = list(entry.key)
                    meta[entry.key].extend(entry.key)

On Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at 5:15:42 PM UTC+1 John MacFarlane wrote:

>
> Another possibility is to use --defaults with a defaults file
> that specifies the input file and all necessary parameters,
> including metadata.
>
> Martin Hepp <mfh...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> writes:
>
> > Dear all:
> >
> > I am trying to build a cleanly organized environment for deriving 
> slides, reports, papers, lecture notes etc. centered on Pandoc.
> >
> > In order to avoid redundancy and hence ease maintenance etc., it would 
> be good to put different groups of meta-data into different places:
> >
> > a) _user_ meta-data (like the default path for the BIB file, the author 
> name, ...)
> >
> > Example: my-meta-data.yaml
> > ---
> > author: Martin Hepp
> > bibliography: my_references.json
> > ...
> >
> > b) output format-dependent meta-data defaults (one file for e.g. Beamer 
> slides, one for Eisvogel reports, one for LNCS papers, ...)
> >
> > Example: eisvogel-defaults.yaml
> > ---
> > toc-own-page: true
> > ...
> >
> > c) output format-dependent meta-data for specific renderings (e.g. logos 
> for multiple institutes or if a research project requires specific colors 
> or texts)
> >
> > Example: eisvogel-project1.yaml
> > ---
> > titlepage-text-color: "000000"
> > titlepage-rule-color: "00A19B"
> > titlepage-rule-height: 15
> > titlepage-background: "background-project1.pdf"
> > logo: "templates/static/logo1.pdf"
> > logo-width: 10cm
> > ...
> >
> > d) document-specific meta-data in the YAML header block of the actual 
> document 
> > Example: my-report.md
> > ---
> > title: Pandoc is simply great
> > ...
> >
> > < Actual content goes here>
> >
> >
> > Now, the details from c) (like the logo path, colors, and the footer 
> texts) should be referenced in the document d), not repeated, like so:
> >
> >
> > Example: my-report.md
> > ---
> > title: Pandoc is simply great
> > include-metadata-from: eisvogel-project1.yaml
> > ...
> >
> > I am using --metadata-file to load the various defaults in their order 
> of priority. But the settings from c) should be ideally set by referencing 
> c) in the actual document d).
> >
> >
> > My question: Is that possible with Pandoc's included batteries?
> >
> > Currently, I see only two options:
> >
> > 1. Add the file-name of c) to the list of input files, like
> >
> > $ pandoc my-report.md eisvogel-project1.yaml -o my-report.pdf 
> --metadata-file=my-meta-data.yaml --metadata-file=eisvogel-defaults.yaml
> >
> > 2. Use https://github.com/DCsunset/pandoc-include, which allows 
> including YAML files in the YAML header block, like so
> >
> > ---
> > title: Title
> > ---
> >
> > !include-header header.yaml
> >
> > # Section
> >
> > Body
> >
> > See https://github.com/DCsunset/pandoc-include#header-include
> >
> > But I hesitate to add a hard dependency to #2.
> >
> > Thanks for your help!
> >
> > Best wishes
> > Martin
> >
> >
> >
> > -- 
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google 
> Groups "pandoc-discuss" group.
> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send 
> an email to pandoc-discus...-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFF+G/Ez6ZCGd0@public.gmane.org
> > To view this discussion on the web visit 
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pandoc-discuss/87056507-2301-49C2-A061-C87ABF35F3C9%40gmail.com
> .
>

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